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Pumping then bottle feeding. Baby has Gas. Please HELP*

My Jaylex was born preterm (35.6 weeks). he is now 3 weeks today.I pump then put milk in bottle for baby. i pump every 4 hours till both beast are drained..after feedings he still seems hungry and he waking every 2 hours for more milk... and drinking 2 to 4oz each time.he is now fussy, has gas, stools are watery and dark yellow(mustard color). I dont know why he is going the this. I think maybe its because he is not getting enough hindmilk. because the milk is water and white..not to creamy.i give him little tummy's gripe water. with every feeding it doesn't seem to be helping. So should a mix formula with my beastmilk to add some fat?? or should i just add a little cereal to the beastmilk to add fat?? to make him feel full.. please help.. new mother.

Re: Pumping then bottle feeding. Baby has Gas. Please HELP*

Welcome and congratulations on the new baby! I am sorry he had to arrive early. I know that can cause difficulties for mom and baby.

Almost everything you describe sounds normal.
Eating every 2 hours is completely normal for a newborn. Most new babies eat every 1-3 hours, with many of them routinely going about 90 minutes between feedings. This is because breastmilk digests quickly and completely. Formula-fed babies often go longer between feedings because formula digests slower. Not better, just slower! The amount your baby is eating sounds exactly right for his age. Most breastfed babies consume about 1.5 oz of milk per hour.
Yellow poops are normal, and indicate that the baby is getting the creamy hindmilk. However, you describe your baby's poops as "watery". Do you mean watery like water, watery like yogurt? Please give us a full description.
White milk is normal. Mature milk color varies from white to yellow to green to bluish white, and it generally looks thinner than cow's milk. Again, the fact that your baby is producing yellow poops indicates that he is getting fat.
Gassiness and fussiness are normal in a newborn. Get used to them! Since your baby is bottle-fed, he may be fussy after eating because he wants to suck but doesn't want to continue eating. It's impossible for a baby to suck on a bottle without getting milk out. Since newborns have a high need to suck, they may fill their tummies before their desire to comfort themselves through sucking is satisfied.
Finally, please do not add formula or cereal to your milk. Formula actually has fewer calories per oz than breastmilk. And rice cereal has many fewer calories than either formula or breastmilk, and in addition rice cereal in a bottle is a choking hazard.

Re: Pumping then bottle feeding. Baby has Gas. Please HELP*

You have gotten some excellent advice already. I would like to add a couple of things:
- If your ultimate plan is to exclusively pump, then you have got to rent a hospital grade pump. It is much better at removing milk than the best retail pumps, and it does so in less time. I'm able to get more out in 10 minutes with one than 20 with the other. I feel as though it's more comfortable as well - sometimes I have to check that my boobs are even hooked up
- I know that pumping/washing/bottle feeding is time consuming, but you should consider pumping more frequently than every 4 hours. Ideally, at this age, you want to remove milk as frequently from the breast as your baby is eating, which is probably at least 8 times in 24 hours. Every 3 hours, at least during the day, would be better. I would aim for 8, even if they aren't evenly spaced, and I would never go more than 4 hrs b/w pumps for now, even at night. There is a whole subforum on EPing that you should check out. A lot of BTDT mamas on the there
- if you are interested in getting your baby back to the breast so you can ditch the pump all together, there is an excellent article on kellymom.com I'm on my phone or I would link it.
- If you are worried about foremilk/hindmilk imbalance (which from what you describe I wouldn't worry), or if you want to add extra calories to your pumped milk, you can consider doing some "double cream" bottles. Let one of the bottles separate, then skim the creamy layer off the top and add it to a second bottle. The leftover skimmy milk you can freeze and save for mixing into homemade purees or baking teething biscuits. With the additional pumping you'll be doing, you should have plenty

Re: Pumping then bottle feeding. Baby has Gas. Please HELP*

I was thinking that maybe you should be pumping more frequently too, every 2 hours during the day and every 4 hours at night. I agree with renting the hospital grade pump!!!!!! Worth every penny. Make sure you are pumping both breasts at same time.. that is what the LC's teach moms who are exclusively pumping for their babies at the hospital I work at.
Less frequent pumping= body makes less milk
more frequent pumping= momma makes more milk!

Re: Pumping then bottle feeding. Baby has Gas. Please HELP*

Every 4 hours is NOT often enough to establish a good supply. Every 2-3 hours is better. Around the clock. For about 12 weeks, more or less. That's how long it takes to properly establish an adequate milk supply for most EPing mothers (very different than the 6-8 weeks for a nursing mother). You must have a total of 120 minutes in every 24 hours for adequate supply development and maintenance, distributed over at least 8 sessions, with at least one between midnight and 5AM, with 2 better in the early weeks.

After your supply is firmly established, you can start slowly, slowly trying to condense sessions to space them out a bit further, always ready to go back to more frequent sessions until you can maintain the same output on fewer sessions. I have an almost 6 month old, and I'm able to produce about 32-40oz in 5 sessions over 24 hours, but it was a ton of work to get to that point.

More frequent pumping also naturally increases the amount of hindmilk, which is what you, from what I read, are a bit concerned about.

All this said...I would STRONGLY recommend trying to BF rather than EP. EPing is much, much more difficult in the long run. Just yesterday, I was at church, where I have to pump 1 time as it overlaps one of my regular sessions by too much to just wait until I get home, and now my baby is big enough to try to roll away and crawl off while I pump. I can see EPing is just going to be more difficult as time goes by. BFing gets easier as time goes by. If you can get off this bus, please do!

ETA: could your baby's fussiness be due to reflux? And I bet the hunger after feeding is actually due to needing to comfort suck. My baby has that issue too, and I wish I could nurse him, but he can't, and he can't even hold in a pacifier! So, I would suggest trying that...or letting him comfort nurse.